Sessional Lecturer: ERE1158HF The Tobacco Industry Playbook

University of Toronto•Toronto, ON

12d•Onsite

About The Position

This course provides students with an opportunity to learn about and reflect on the continuously evolving tobacco industry playbook. The course will begin with an overview of the industry (e.g. key products, harms, figures, and players), before delving into its history. This will include the role of European settlers in colonizing and industrializing tobacco, the emergence of the industry in the US and Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the intricate relationship between the industry and the two world wars (including post-WWII reconstruction in Europe), and the consolidation and entrenchment of the industry into Big Tobacco (i.e. Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Brands – all headquartered in Europe, and Japan Tobacco International). After looking into research methodologies, the course will then explore the industry’s main business and political strategies and tactics overtime, with a particular focus on Europe and Eurasia. These notably include producing and distributing addictive products (e.g. sales and marketing strategies, tobacco product supply chains), controlling information (e.g. concealing evidence of harms, funding research and influencing media to sow doubt and push certain narratives), undermining policy and lack of government capacity in particular in LMICs (i.e. through direct lobbying and allies), and rebranding itself as the solution to problems it created, e.g. to smoking with vaping, and to illicit trade with anti-illicit trade initiatives. Key case studies will include China (the world’s largest cigarette producer) and Russia and Ukraine, with an exploration of how Big Tobacco captured post-Soviet Union markets through smuggling, how Ukraine long served as a smuggling hub for Big Tobacco companies, and how those companies responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. We will then explore how the tobacco industry playbook has been replicated in other industries, and discuss implications for research, policy, and practice.